About
Kristina Halvorson is the founder and president of Brain Traffic, a content strategy…
Services
Articles by Kristina
Activity
19K followers
-
Kristina Halvorson reposted thisKristina Halvorson reposted this🗓️ April 23: You’re invited to a special Button event! Join host Torrey Podmajersky and guest speakers Keri Maijala and Cindy Xiong from the LinkedIn Content/Conversation Design team for a chat about the role humans play in systems thinking. Turn in for the talk, participate in a live Q&A, and get the session recording after it ends! Register for free: https://lnkd.in/g98hh2hg — A special thank you to our watch party sponsor: Communication Leadership at the University of Washington. This program teaches in-demand skills in growing communication fields. Advance your career with an AI-ready master’s degree focused on storytelling, content, and purpose-driven leadership. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gYEwYBKJ
-
Kristina Halvorson reposted thisKristina Halvorson reposted thisTime to dust off this classic. Tag a content design friend who shows up with big energy 😉. #UXWriting #ContentDesign #Networking #LinkedInWeekends
-
Kristina Halvorson reposted thisKristina Halvorson reposted thisAs we put the finishing touches on the #Button2026 program and prepare to reach out to selected speakers next week, we want to take a moment to say how much we appreciate the time, thought, and care that went into every single submission. This community continues to surprise, delight, and impress the heck out of us. We received hundreds of submissions this year (!!!), and with a limited number of speaking slots, narrowing things down is never easy. So many strong ideas, thoughtful perspectives, and real-world experiences. It’s what makes building this program both exciting and incredibly tough. If you’re curious what we tend to look for, here’s what stands out: • Tangible takeaways you can actually apply in your work • Practical case studies and lessons learned • Fresh perspectives on common content design challenges • Original ideas that feel timely and relevant Thanks to Keri Maijala, Jonathan McFadden, Torrey Podmajersky, and Andrew Stein for your brilliant brains — we’re grateful for our inaugural Button Board. And a big thank-you to Tenessa Gemelke for your continued work shaping the program. We’re deep in the final selection process now and getting very close! We can’t wait to reveal the full speaker lineup SOOOOOON. 👀
-
Kristina Halvorson reposted thisKristina Halvorson reposted thisA lot of organizations "do research" but never learn because they don't know how (or don't care to) figure out what they're going to do with the resulting insights or data. It's really easy to cut resources for research when you weren't using it. If this sounds like your situation, join us at Let's Do Design Research Right! on March 26: https://lnkd.in/dG3YX24C
-
Kristina Halvorson shared thisOkay which one of you sent me ... wait what did you send me?! WHAT DO I DO
-
Kristina Halvorson shared thisIf you live in the Twin Cities, BIG NEWS ... the long-dormant Minneapolis/St. Paul Content Strategy Meetup group is coming back to life! Come join the fun on Thursday, March 19, 7pm at Pryes Brewing Company. More backstory and links below. Good times ahead. 💃🕺Kristina Halvorson shared thisThis week, I introduced myself to 1,000+ people all at once. Yes, via email, but still! I've never done this before, and even as a content designer for some large companies, I'm typically in the background. That changed when I started organizing content design meetups in the Twin Cities this past year. It’s always been on the smaller side, DIY-style with an email list assembled by cold-messaging people on LinkedIn — but I knew there were more content nerds out there. Now, that scrappy email list is entering a new chapter, and a much more public one. Cue the recently revived meetup.com group: Content Strategy - Minneapolis/Saint Paul. This group has been a home for Twin Cities content folks for years, due to thoughtful programming and stewardship. Kristina Halvorson, thank you for trusting me to carry it forward. I'm so excited to bring more content people together. I don't think emailing 1,000 people will ever be NOT scary. But I'm ready to meet a lot more people, and I think our community is too. If you're a local, come to the Twin Cities Content Community Meetup next Thursday, 3/19 from 7–8:30 p.m. I promise attending the meetup is much less scary than sending emails about it. https://lnkd.in/ggvZ-Vkt #Meetup #Event #Minneapolis #SaintPaul #ContentDesign #ContentStrategy #UXresearchTwin Cities Content Community Meetup, Thu, Mar 19, 2026, 7:00 PM | MeetupTwin Cities Content Community Meetup, Thu, Mar 19, 2026, 7:00 PM | Meetup
-
Kristina Halvorson reposted thisKristina Halvorson reposted thisButton is proud to be an in-kind sponsor of this year’s IAC - Information Architecture Conference 2026! 🗓️ April 14-18 📍 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 💡Navigating Complexity: Clarity and Understanding with Information Architecture Today’s information systems are more complex than ever, and the need for information architecture has never been greater. At IAC 2026, explore how the transformative power of IA cuts through complexity and creates information systems that let people thrive. 🎟️ Exclusive discount: Use code BUTTON50 for $50 off your main conference ticket! See the program: https://lnkd.in/ds427tay See the workshops: https://lnkd.in/gWtNPb3k More about IAC: The Information Architecture Conference (IAC) is the premier in-person event for professionals in information architecture, user experience design, content strategy, and research. Since 2000, their diverse community of practitioners and academics has gathered to explore the intentional design of rich information environments. IAC brings together experts in Information Architecture, UX Design, Content Strategy, and more.
-
Kristina Halvorson reposted thisKristina Halvorson reposted this🐪 Happy Wednesday, everyone! We're only 3 days away from our March meetup! 🥳 Join me for some coffee and sunshine this Saturday! ☀️ 🌴 😎 ☕ Our bi-monthly networking meetups are back: bringing together product designers, UX researchers, and content folks to connect and build community. Best of all: this event is FREE! We will be in the back at the outdoor patio. Details: 📅 : Saturday, March 14th 🕚 : 10 - 11:30 am 📍: Thunder Road Cafe 7253 Santa Monica Blvd West Hollywood, CA 90046 🔗 Link is in the comment section below. 👇 #UXWriter #uxwriting #ux #content #contentdesign #contentdesigner #losangeles #uxlosangeles #UXContentLosAngeles #uxresearch #uxresearcher #UXdesign #uxdesigner #productdesign #productdesigner
-
Kristina Halvorson reposted thisKristina Halvorson reposted thisSometimes working in content design can feel like this. Pulled in every direction. Too many requests. Not enough time. If that sounds familiar, we have a workshop for you. Barbara Blythe, PhD (Cisco) is leading a Button workshop on practical systems, frameworks, processes, tools, and AI-supported strategies to help content designers scale their impact without burning out. https://lnkd.in/gHfSrmr2
Kristina Halvorson replied to a comment
1w
I love you so much for remembering the cheese at 4am story.
-
Kristina Halvorson liked thisOver the years, I’ve found online UX events to be the greatest catalysts for two things: connecting with all levels of expertise and gaining actionable insights in design and content. UX Content Collective and Button are my favorites. The kindest people. The sharpest. The realest. Button 2026 is this September. They're currently accepting equity scholarship applications. I don't feel I fully meet the criteria, but want to amplify this to my connections in case ✨ YOU✨ do. How to apply: https://lnkd.in/gBCreHx3 #Button2026 #Equity #UXDesign #ContentStrategy #ContentDesignKristina Halvorson liked this✨ The Button 2026 Equity Scholarship is officially open ✨ In an ideal world, everybody who wants to come to Button is able to come to Button. But we don't live in an ideal world, so Team Button created the Equity Scholarship as one way to work towards a community that reflects the full range of perspectives, backgrounds, and lived experiences that make content design stronger. Please apply if you believe you qualify. The deadline is April 3! If you know someone who would benefit, please share this with them. The more voices in the room, the better the conversation. Learn more and apply at the link in comments🎉💖😁
-
Kristina Halvorson reacted on thisKristina Halvorson reacted on thisCelebrating the life of my mom, JoAnn My mom passed away peacefully after three years living with pancreatic cancer. She shone so bright during her life on this planet, and taught me to love, heal, and live fully and "little by slow". Grateful to the teams at Mayo Clinic and NYU Langone Health. Her life was extended by at least 18 months by Histotripsy, a recently-approved treatment that uses ultrasound waves to target cancer tumors. It gave us so much precious time together we wouldn't have had otherwise. The last few months have been a lot, so I've been offline a lot more than usual. But each time I check in, the flood of innovation comes fast and furious. Collectively, we are sorting out our way forward with rapidly-evolving intelligence as a new baseline assumption within systems. It's an amazing era of change, impossible to completely keep up with, but full of possibility. I expect to be back and publishing about content and data structures, schemas, neurosymbolic AI, the future of knowledge-centric professional practices...all compelling, yet right now, to a grieving son, it all seems so ephemeral compared to living connections with family and friends. Within these months of time with family, in personal transformation, I am reminded that human connection, empathy, love, relationship -- all things that don't fit into an LLM context window neatly -- these are the fundamentals of human life and the basis on which we grow healthy societies. And I see that human strength everywhere, even amid the din of technology, war, and massive change. Here's to everyone supporting elderly parents, sick family members, new babies, and all those that need love, care, and support. Human stuff. I see and appreciate all those carrying so much quietly, behind the scenes, not memorialized by blog post or git repo or generated graphics. Here's to my mom, and here's to being a human on a spectacular planet filled with life and intelligence.
-
Kristina Halvorson liked thisKristina Halvorson liked thisSince 2020, we have organized 41 book clubs and read 40 incredible books. We know the power of the knowledge you can only find in books. We believe words documented in books remain among the most powerful tools for making a difference that lasts. Today, we were fortunate to welcome two of the 15 authors of the incredible Designed with Care, Rachel Edwards and Rachael Dietkus, LCSW. They reminded us that whatever tool you use to design today, never forget that real people will use your service. People with real experiences, who don't live in our fantasy land. They live real lives with real traumas. Ones we should consider to create experiences that heal, connect, and restore, instead of harm, reactivate, or retraumatize. (Thanks kon syrokostas for the reminder). Thanks to all the authors who remind us, book after book, that the work we do matters. And that we work for real humans, living real lives. Here are 3 books we read at the Book Club Beyond The Cover and highly recommend you with Chiara Angori. ✔️ Designing for Emotion by Aarron Walter ✔️ Life and Death Design by Katie Swindler ✔️ Designed with Care by Rachel Edwards, Rachael Dietkus, LCSW, Kate Every, Sarah Fathallah, Michelle d. Keller, Josh Kim, Owen Leigh, Jane McFadyen, Steph Mann, sahibzada mayed (صاحبزادہ مائد), kon syrokostas, Miriam Vaswani, Jax Wechsler, Jenny Winfield
-
Kristina Halvorson reacted on thisKristina Halvorson reacted on this6 years ago this week I got in my car in San Francisco and drove up to Sacramento. And didn’t stop working for 100 days straight on this new thing called Covid. It simultaneously feels like a few months and 50 years ago. I had the honor and privilege of scrubbing in next to incredibly brilliant and dedicated civil servants as we sought to figure out what was going on in our state, and by extension, around the world. Just 5 days prior to this, the mandatory stay at home order was announced in California. So when I got the call the following weekend asking me if I was healthy and available, I was terrified: Would I be at risk by leaving my house? Would I catch this new disease by going to Sacramento? What does it mean for a 3-time cancer survivor to step willingly into harm’s away? So I did what I often do in big moments, and reached out to my personal board of directors. We talked about the pros and cons, and with their support and love, I answered, “Yes.” The days were incredibly long, as you can see in the calendar below. They often started at 6:30 am with a stand up call, and if we were lucky our day would finish with our 9 pm stand up call, but often we stayed after to help the Secretary of Health & Human Services with the talking points for him and the Governor for the next day’s daily press conference. I would share the data myself and my Research Insights team had combed through to tell the story of what was going on with the people of California each day. Big love and gratitude to the people who stayed on to fight the good fight, and continue to do so to this day. California, and the world, is better off because of you. 💕
-
Kristina Halvorson reacted on thisKristina Halvorson reacted on thisI've been debating whether I wanted to share this here...and where I land is that I do. And I'm not really sure why, other than the fact that I guess I need to. Not sharing it feels like a denial of some kind. So... I lost my father suddenly and unexpectedly last Tuesday. To say I am heartbroken is the most massive understatement in the entire universe. And I read this at his memorial, which sums up everything. I'd like to share it with you all. Gratitude in advance for allowing me the space. . . . . . . . . . Some things cannot be fixed. They can only be carried. I wrote that in a journal awhile back; it was just something that came to me and wanted to be captured. But it’s appropriate for this moment. My father was the very best man I have ever known. My mother has been saying that he was the most honorable man — and I love that term because it’s appropriate. You all knew him. So you don’t need me to tell you how enormously generous he was, or how kind, or how morally and ethically straight. He was who he was without hesitation or reservation and he did not give a shit what anyone else thought of that, or how anyone else behaved. He did. Not. EVER. Waver. The right thing to do is the right thing to do. Always. Period. When I was a kid we usually went to the grocery store after mass on Sunday. And inevitably there would be a lone shopping cart in the parking lot that someone was too lazy to bring inside. “Hey Joe, go grab that cart.” And I’d grumble and think man, this is embarrassing, no one else’s dad makes them do stuff like this.” Or you’d be somewhere and there was litter on the ground. “Hey Joe...” That’s who he was. Every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every year of his life. He did. Not. Waver. My mother, my sister, my nieces, my cousins and aunts and uncles, my wife and all of you know the truth I’m talking about. We were all beyond fortunate to have existed in his orbit. To have him grace our lives. To have him teach us. I told my wife Eli the day we lost him that if I can ever be a quarter of the man he was, I’d take that as a win. I’ll keep trying, Dad. I don’t have the words to tell you what a loss this is. Or how much it hurts. I don’t know how I’m gonna be able to watch another Ohio State or Cavs or Browns or Guardians game without being able to call or text him and say “can you believe this fucking team??” There’s a hole in the universe. My North Star, the man anchoring me to this world and this life...is gone. And as much as I desperately wish I could, I can’t fix this. But I hear his voice in my ear: “Handle it, Joe. Handle it.” So like I said, I can’t fix this. But I *will* carry it — and I will continue to do everything in my power to live up to my father’s example.
-
Kristina Halvorson reacted on thisKristina Halvorson reacted on thisHad a fun time and some great conversations at tonight’s Twin Cities Content Meetup. Thanks, Megan Biggs! Harry, however, was seriously upset that I didn’t bring him along. https://lnkd.in/gZvmH4dP
Experience & Education
-
Brain Traffic
View Kristina’s full experience
By clicking Continue to join or sign in, you agree to LinkedIn’s User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy.
Recommendations received
2 people have recommended Kristina
Join now to viewOther similar profiles
Explore more posts
Explore top content on LinkedIn
Find curated posts and insights for relevant topics all in one place.
View top content